With his new movie, Pride and Glory, opening Friday we talked to star Noah Emmerich about his prep for the role, including buying crack at Dunkin' Donuts.

His name may not ring a bell, but you probably recognize the face -- Noah Emmerich has spent more than a decade supporting Hollywood heavyweights with roles like "the best friend" or "the nice guy". This Friday, in Gavin O'Connor's bloody cop noir Pride and Glory, Emmerich takes on a leading role, holding his own opposite Jon Voight, Colin Farrell, and Ed Norton. He tells us what it's like to buy crack at Dunkin' Donuts, how much it hurts to work on an action flick, and why his powerful brother Toby isn't the reason for his success.

Pride and Glory comes out Friday. Seems like a real family film.

Yeah, it's Disney. Bring the kids. No, it's a very intense drama.

What makes it more than just another cop movie?

I don't consider this a cop film -- it's a character-driven drama. I think what pulls and holds your interest during the film is the character development and the conflicts and dilemmas that these characters are confronted with. The police is a great setting because it's a life-and-death world. This movie is really resonant for me in terms of the issues it addresses, how we negotiate the world with our integrity intact, how we hold on to our own moral compass. Like right now, how much more relevant could it be? There's clearly massive corruption and fraud in the entire banking system and this movie explores that path. How we end up places we didn't expect to be and how we get ourselves out of those places. How we hold on to our ambition and ourselves at the same time.

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How did you and the other actors prepare for the film?

We spent almost three months researching the roles. I got to do some really crazy things, things I never thought I'd do. Went on undercover drug buys. I went into crimes scenes. I tailed guys. I mean it was all real. There were times I was terrified. We'd get there and the cops would break it down for us. We went to a Dunkin' Donuts to buy crack. It was incredible. And there I am, and I've never bought crack before. Then we follow the guy in the car because they [the cops] want to trace the dealer, you know.

Intense, violent, and educational. Can you really use a baked potato as a silencer?

Yeah, it really does muffle the sound of the gunshot. It's amazing that a potato is enough to make a difference. Everything in this film is authentic and I can say that with confidence because we spent months and months going through it with a microscope. The language, the details, the potato, all those things, it's all real. Gavin, who is committed to authenticity, took us up to real neighborhoods for casting and we had serious drug dealers coming in to audition.

And at this point you'd already bought crack at Dunkin' Donuts?

Oh, yeah, we were deep into it.

You're a dramatic actor, did this film satisfy any need to do an action role?

I did do a war movie, Windtalkers. That was a lot of action. But once you've done one big action/war movie you don't need to do another one. It's really shocking. You hear actors talking about how hard it is. And you know, it's a movie, how hard can it be? The truth is there's not as much energy or money focused on the comfort of the actors as I'd imagined. They shoot you diving into a trench. And you're diving into a trench. I thought there'd be padding. There's no padding. The whole cast ended up with bruises, cuts, broken fingers. And there's the whole macho thing that happens, like "Oh yeah, I'm not using a stunt man." Then you watch the movie and you can't even tell who's who.

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Your brother Toby was the executive producer on Pride and Glory and runs New Line Cinema. Has that helped you at all?

Actually no, I was in the business first.

So as far as nepotism goes, you're the one throwing him bones?

Exactly! My brother started in the music business and I was an actor -- we were both in the entertainment industry, but doing separate things. Then he went over to New Line and started their soundtrack department, that's how he got his foot in the door. By then I'd already done Beautiful Girls, The Truman Show and bunch of movies.

So now you have a track record, does that give you some weight in Hollywood? Are people more willing to return your calls now?

Yeah, but with every upside there's a downside and the downside is that people think, "Yeah I know who Noah Emmerich is, he can do this guy." They have these assumptions about your range, which doesn't happen when you're unknown. You get pigeon-holed. After every movie you get offered the role that you just did in the last movie.

Have you ever done a comedy?

That's what I'm dying to do. Talk about pigeon-holing, I've never done a comedy. Some of the things I've been in are comedic, but I don't get considered for true comedies because I'm a "dramatic" actor.

No comedies, what about love scenes? Who was your best on-screen kiss?

I've had so few on-screen kisses. It's terrible, I've haven't really had a romantic on-screen kiss. So probably my favorite on-screen kiss is this one, in Pride and Glory, which is so not sexy. It's with Jennifer Ehle [whose character is dying of cancer]; she was spectacular in the film, shaved head and everything. So my favorite on-screen kiss would be with a bald woman.

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